Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Hind Rajab, Almost Six Years Old,

Gaza, Palestine: Dead.

(A Poem of Barbarism)

1

 

Who pulled the trigger on Hind Rajab?

Who pulled the trigger on her wounded cousin,

Layan Hamadeh, just 15-year-old?

Who fired the bullets that killed uncle and aunt?

Who sent death to collect all three cousins in the fleeing car?

What did the news say when their bodies

rose up from the fire to condemn this wretched world?

Who drove the tank

and who pointed the weapons?

Who loaded the guns and who paid

for the ammunition, the American shells,

the moving and immovable parts?

And who sleeps safe in their bed

each night these small children are driven,

like beasts, to their slaughter?

 

And who, endlessly, lectures us on human rights

from an English parliament, an American university, a German

holocaust memorial?

And, finally, who are these madmen-and-women

screaming antisemite antisemite

every time i blow my nose?

 

So I ask again:

who pulled the trigger that killed Hind Rajab, almost

6 years old, from Tal al-Hawa district, in southern Gaza City,

January 29, 2024?

Hind Rajab, Almost Six Years Old...(Poem) 

 2

 

Dear Hind Rajab, a chara mo chroí

your birthday is in May, i am told.

 

For a present if only i could wind

back the clocks and

slip so softly into this sleeping car

as night falls

and you ask: please come, quickly,

quickly “come take me. Please,

will you come?”

 

i could try hold you, falling

as we all fly away, together...

 

Monday, 29 January, 2024,

at about 5 p.m.

 

“This undated handout photograph obtained courtesy of the family shows six-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab posing for a picture.”  (albawaba.com) 
Global Rights  (Full poem)

Hind Rajab's and Layan Hamadeh’s voice recorded 

Hind Rajab was trapped in a car "with the bodies of her parents and siblings, one of whom was killed while on the phone pleading for help" from the Palestinian  Red Crescent. 

Al Jazeera - 31 January, 2024

 

Also: The Palestine Red Crescent Society recording’s of a call from Hind Rajab reading Quran

Middle East Eye - 16 February, 2024

 

The body of six-year-old Hind Rajab is found by relatives

Middle East Eye - February 10, 2024


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